


Simple and Clean

by MrsCalculation



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, M/M, non-sexual nudity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-08
Updated: 2017-11-08
Packaged: 2019-01-30 18:32:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12659067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsCalculation/pseuds/MrsCalculation
Summary: Apartment-sharing AU in which Bucky is really clean.Bucky just really liked cleaning. Sometimes he put off stressful, usually more important, parts of his life to clean. Which is why now, instead of writing his dissertation, Bucky was scrubbing the bathtub floor on his hands and knees with his naked ass in the air.





	Simple and Clean

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mambo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mambo/gifts).



> For the lovely mambo (whtaft on Tumblr) and her contribution to the Fandom Loves Puerto Rico effort! Thank you for donating!  
> Her only request was "fluffier/funnier AU," so I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Although this fic has nothing to do with Kingdom Hearts, the title is the same as that of a song by Utada Hikaru for the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack.

Bucky just _really_ liked cleaning.

He wasn’t obsessive about it, and it almost never interfered with the rest of his life, but he liked to be clean. He liked his workspace clean, he liked his kitchen clean, he liked his own body clean. It was comforting for some part of his life to look in order even if the rest of it wasn’t. Sometimes he put off stressful, usually more important, parts of his life to clean.

Which is why now, instead of writing his dissertation, Bucky was scrubbing the bathtub floor. On his hands and knees. Ass in the air. Completely naked.

 

After his time in the army, Steve _hated_ when things were too clean. He hated the fake sort of order they had forced upon him in an attempt to discipline him into following all of their orders blindly, “for the greater good,” to profit off him. Off his youth and desperation, off his eagerness to do something for the world. As soon as he got the chance to get out, he took it and moved in with Bucky, who had already completed his undergrad and was researching prosthetics tech while working for his doctorate. Doing something _actually_ good with his life.

Sometimes Steve wanted to hate him for that, but he couldn’t bring himself to.

What he _could_ bring himself to hate was how squeaky clean Bucky had become. Bucky was always the messy one as a kid; it was part of what Steve loved about him. Why was it that now that his life was perfect in _every other way_ he had to go and take the one thing Steve used to have going for him? Steve hated to see too much order now. He always left at least one dish in the sink, left the top corner of his bed untucked, left his towel crooked in the bathroom. It made his life feel more real.  
At least Bucky never messed with any of that stuff.  
  
Bucky had walked into the bathroom meaning to take a shower. The apartment was just the healthy level of clean he wanted it to be: clearly lived-in with a couple of touches of Steve here and there, but clean and organized. Bucky hadn’t showered in over twenty-four hours, what with his job and class and dissertation, so he decided to take a break and clean himself up. Refresh his mind by refreshing his body or some shit. Really, he just hated that his hair was getting greasy.

But when he was already naked, his clothes in his hamper in the corner, he opened the shower curtain and noticed that there was what looked like dried shampoo discolored with dirt stuck on the tub floor. He couldn’t just let that go.

Next thing he knew, he’d been on the floor for close to ten minutes trying to scrub one last spot away. He’d pulled every cleaner he had out from the under-sink cabinets, yet nothing had worked. He was starting to wonder if it was an off-white paint stain when the bathroom door opened. He jumped and scrambled over, awkwardly on his side in the tub, not at all covered by the translucent shower curtain.

“Christ! Bucky!” Steve yelled at him, slamming the door shut again. Bucky didn’t know what to do for a second.

“You could’ve knocked!” he shouted at the closed door.

“Yeah, well, you shoulda locked the door if you were gonna do that!” Steve yelled back.

Yeah, Steve had a point.

 

All Steve wanted was to come home from his long day and take a fucking _piss_. He hated campus bathrooms. They always smelled. His own place with Bucky may not have been stellar, but it didn’t smell like years of pee-stench.

But now he couldn’t go into his own bathroom because Bucky’s ass was just there, floating up in the air, as he cleaned the tub. And Steve still needed to pee.

It was better for him to focus on how much he had to pee than to focus on how perfect Bucky’s ass was. Dammit.

 

Bucky, in his mortification, officially decided that the off-white mark was a paint stain, put his cleaning supplies away, and showered.

Not the reason he would have liked Steve to see his bare ass in the air for the first time, but it was a start. He huffed a laugh at his own ridiculousness in the shower.

Too bad Steve had gone and joined the army, gotten all muscle-y and masculine, and made Bucky too self-conscious to pursue _shit_. And, y’know. He’d had a girlfriend the whole time he was enlisted. And was almost definitely not gay. Dammit.

 

When he heard the shower turn off and the bathroom door open, Steve tried his best not to rush into the bathroom. He didn’t want to look weird, but _God_ , he had to pee.

“Took ya long enough,” he said as he passed Bucky. Better not to acknowledge what had already become _The Incident_ in his mind.

“Fuck you, too,” Bucky said as he went into his bedroom.

 _Word choice_ , Steve thought as he closed the bathroom door.

 

After an hour of staring at his laptop, writing only about fifteen words as he thought about how much of a disastrous social failure he was, Bucky decided to make dinner. May as well be productive.

Sixty minutes into his ninety-minute meatloaf and roasted veggies recipe, Steve came out of his room. “Something smells great, Buck.”

“Oh, no you don’t. You don’t get to eat half my food without doing any of the work.” They’d had this argument before.

“I’ll do dishes?” Steve offered. Like always. He _never_ finished the dishes. Bucky just joke-glared at him.

Steve just sat at the counter looking awkward for a minute until he got up and started doing dishes. Well, Bucky could have expected that much. Steve never was good at talking about anything.

But, just as Steve was finishing the dishes in the sink, Bucky opened the oven and leaned over to get the meatloaf out. And felt a wet hand slap his ass.

Steve could not stop fucking _laughing_ , the asshole.

“You yelped like a _puppy_ , oh my _god_ ,” Steve said around choking laughter.

“I wasn’t expecting that! I coulda hit my head on the oven!”

“You were, like, two feet away from it, you woulda been fine.”

Bucky, now a good distance from the oven but _sans_ meatloaf, just glared.

Steve flicked soap bubbles at him.

Bucky got closer to Steve, closer to the bubbly sink, and asked, “what was that for, asshole?” He leaned his hip on the space between the oven and the sink.

“Your ass looked real good, Buck.”

Bucky felt his face get warm and looked away.

“Bucky, no, seriously. You look good.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Bucky said, avoiding _really_ responding. “Make fun of my body, muscles McGee.”

“Bucky,” Steve said, the last hint of comedy out of his voice, “do you really think I’d make fun of you like that? _Me_? I’m the last person to make fun of anyone’s body. You know that.” He put his still-soapy hand on Bucky’s shoulder. “Hey.” He doesn’t continue until Bucky looks at him. “Honestly? You’re very attractive.”

Bucky just sat waiting for the _no homo_ , the bro-pat, but got none of it.

Steve cleared his throat.

Bucky still said nothing.

“Well,” Steve said. “This isn’t how I was planning this to go.”

Bucky tilted his head and quirked an eyebrow. “For what?”

Steve’s face got pinker, but he kept eye contact with Bucky. “For, uh.” He clears his throat again. “For me to tell you that I think you’re… hot? Attractive. Um.” His eyes darted away from Bucky’s for a second, but he forced them back. “That I, uh, think you’re attractive and always have and really like you?”

Despite how fast his heart was going, Bucky just backed away, trying to look as unimpressed as possible. “Sure, Steve,” he said. “Stop trying to get out of doing the last couple dishes.”

Steve sighed and looked down, then reached for the dish towel to wipe his hands dry. “Bucky, seriously, he said, “I’m not kidding. Come back for a second?”

Bucky hesitantly took a step towards Steve, then another, until he was close enough to Steve to feel comfortable but not to get into Steve’s personal space. Steve took a step towards him anyway.

“Bucky,” Steve said, “I promise you that I am not lying.” Bucky shuffled a little closer into Steve’s heat as Steve put his hand on Bucky’s neck. “May I?” Steve asked?

Bucky just barely nodded.

Bucky was very rudely interrupted from the best kiss of his life with the feeling of a wet hand slapping his ass _again_.

“Are you fucking shitting me, Rogers?” Bucky asked as Steve was finished laughing.

“Sorry, couldn’t help myself.”

“Bullshit. Get back here.”

“I’ve love to, but uh. The meatloaf.”

Bucky yelped and scrambled for the third time since Steve started doing dishes.

 

The meatloaf was fine, but Steve left a plate and a knife in the sink.

**Author's Note:**

> I had a friend read this before I published it and his solution was "why doesn't Steve just pee on Bucky's butt?" You're welcome that I didn't take it there.
> 
> As always, let me know if you see any errors! Archive and I don't always get along.
> 
> Check me out on Tumblr at MrsCalculation!


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